Monte Paschi declined 6.7 percent to 17.26 cents by 12:07
p.m. in Milan, bringing the decline this year to 24 percent. The
fourth-quarter net loss was 1.59 billion euros ($2 billion), the
Siena-based lender said after the close of trading on March 28.
The loss was more than double the 686.3 million-euro loss
estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Monte Paschi, engulfed by investigations of its former
managers, is selling assets, cutting costs and reducing risks to
return to profit. Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Viola and
Chairman Alessandro Profumo, appointed last year to turn around
the 541-year-old bank, are trying to regain the confidence of
investors after the lender was forced to seek a second state
rescue in four years and take a 730 million-euro hit to assets
after uncovering transactions that hid earlier losses.

Clients withdrew “several” billion euros of deposits from
Monte Paschi after it emerged the bank had engaged in “illicit”
transactions, the lender said in a report posted on its website
last week.

“We were somewhat impacted in February but we were quick
in recovering ground in March,” Chief Financial Officer
Bernardo Mingrone said during the conference call on March 28,
the last day of trading before the Easter holidays. He declined
to provide the level of deposits in the first quarter.

Loan-loss provisions increased to 1.37 billion euros in the
fourth quarter from 464.3 million euros a year earlier. Revenue
declined 37 percent to 778.3 million euros, hurt by a net
interest income drop of 52 percent to 434.5 million euros.